Vice President for Development and
Resources, Dr. Khin Ni Ni Thein met with Dr. Le
Huu Ti, Chief, Water and Sustainable Development Section in
UN-ESCAP, on 5 September 2008. Dr. Ti is a senior AIT Alumnus and
he is interested in seeing AIT become an implementing institute of the
soon-to-be-established Knowledge Hub on "Water Conflicts Prevention and
Resolution" for the benefit of Asian countries.

On 18 August 2008, AIT President Said
Irandoust delivered one of the inaugural addresses at the Map
Asia 2008 conference. The main speaker was the Secretary-General of
the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Malaysia.

During his address, AIT President
highlighted the important role of AIT vis-à-vis GIS strategies in the
region, importance of GIS and emerging advances in GIS related
technologies, planned activities and initiatives of AIT in initiatives
such as climate change and how GIS can help, and also conveyed AIT’s
interest and invitation to work with a wide range of partners.

On 4 September 2008, nine companies visited AIT to present their joint
research proposals in collaboration with AIT faculty. This meeting was
chaired by Dr. Suchart Muangkaew, Deputy Secretary-General of
the Commission on Higher Education.  

The purpose of the joint research project is to enable companies to
make use of AIT’s research capabilities, while AIT faculty members have
an opportunity to work on solving real-world problems.

Dr. Punya Prasad Regmi (an AIT alumnus himself), who has been
contracted for carrying out a tracer study of AIT alumni, has started
the work for the Tracer Study of about 4000 AIT Graduates (2003 to mid
2008) since the end of August. He is expected to complete the study by
the end of December 2008.

During his meeting with AIT President Said Irandoust and
Dr. Pritam K. Shrestha, Head, External Relations and
Communications Office, on 2 September 2008, they discussed about the
tracer study and the draft survey questionnaires.

On 5 September 2008, AIT President Said Irandoust met
with Mr. Somprasong Boonyachai, the President of the AITAA
Mother Chapter, discussing the possible combining of the AIT and AITAA
endowment funds, and unification of the current two alumni offices, so
as to have better coordination and utilization of resources.

The AIT project proposal on ‘Community Preparedness for climate
change and increased water use efficiency for rice cultivation using
principles of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in
central Thailand’ has been selected for the Asia-Pacific
Forum for Environment and Development (APFED) Showcase 2008 Programme.

Two Ph.D. students of the Aquaculture and Aquatic Resources Management
(AARM), School of Environment, Resources and Development (SERD) namely
Mr. Troung Hoang Minh (above left) and Mr. Chavan Balu
Ramdas (above right) won the first and third oral presentation
awards respectively during the International Symposium on
Sustaining Fish Diversity, Fisheries and Aquacultures in the Mekong
Basin, held from 3-5 September 2008 in Ubon
Rachathani, Thailand.

According to Dr. Joydeep Dutta, Director of the
Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology, and Associate Dean School
of Engineering and Technology, the new master’s program in
nanotechnology is planned for launch from the January 2009 intake. This
is stated to be a very unique and interesting, application-oriented
multidisciplinary program that integrates physics / engineering
physics, chemistry / chemical engineering, material science / material
engineering.

Following the establishment of four Director positions under the Office
of the Vice President for Academic Affairs to oversee new highly
promising initiatives, AIT President Said Irandoust has
formalized the appointments of Professor Vilas M Salokhe,
Professor in School of Environment, Resources and Development’s
Agricultural Systems and Engineering Field of Study, as Director for
Unified Programs at AIT, and Dr. Nitin Afzulpurkar, School of
Engineering and Technology (SET) Associate Dean and Associate Professor
in SET-Mechatronics / Microelectronics, as Director for Undergraduate
Programs at AIT. Their initial appointment period is from 1 September
2008 to 30 June 2009.  Professor Salokhe and Dr Afzulpurkar shall
serve as the contact persons and in-charge of related coordination both
within AIT and with partner universities, as well as support the
development of their respective initiative areas in collaboration with
our field of study coordinators.

A Task Force for the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of AIT in 2009 has
been formed, chaired by the Vice President for Development and
Resources, Dr. Ir. Khin Ni Ni Thein. AIT’s 50th Anniversary
Celebrations are also expected to coincide with the declaration or
reaffirmation of AIT’s international status.